The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955) is one of the more absurd and strange film’s of Buñuel’s I’ve seen so far. It tells the story of Archibaldo, a wealthy man who fancies himself a murderer. As a child, he witnesses his governess be killed while a music box plays that was gifted to him by him Mother. We meet Archibald as a middle aged man who comes across what he believes is the music box from his childhood in a shop which ultimately triggers his murderous fantasies. The majority of the film plays out as Archibald’s confession to authorities. We follow him as he moves through his days and various social engagements where he encounters different women who he imagines killing.

The film mixes dark humor and surreal moments. The music box itself is portrayed as magical in an absurd way in that it is clearly a traumatic trigger for Archibald. The story often blurs the line between what is real and what is only in his mind like in the mannequin scenes. We see his fantasies as if they were real events not always clear on where the fantasy ends and reality begins. Each time he plans a murder, fate steps in and stops it – two of the women die by other means immediately after Archibald’s failed attempt, another target slips from his grasp – making his “criminal life” more like a series of unlucky coincidences.

Buñuel uses this strange story to poke fun at religion, guilt and upper-class manners which we see with Archibaldo’s determination to confess crimes he hasn’t committed and his fantasy of Carlota in her wedding dress praying before he attempts to kill her but the most glaring example being Archibaldo himself – the perfect gentlemen, wealthy, handsome, well-mannered, impeccably dressed – yet he spends the entire film fantasizing about killing women. Buñuel plays this contradiction for irony where the most dangerous of impulses hides behind civility. Archibaldo’s obsession with appearances and etiquette mirrors the upper classes obsession with control and decorum. The people around him seen just as trapped in their own illusions even if not as dark as his own. Overall the film feels light and playful on the surface where but underneath it shows how fantasy and desire shapes people’s lives.